I was concerned about the impending wintry mix weather that was predicted for our weekend so I had trouble sleeping on Friday night. But all I had to deal with on the drive from Fredericksburg to DC was some rain. I left Reagan National Airport on time on Saturday, December 5, and arrived at MCO without incident. My driver, Roger (from
ray Transportation) met me and since I only had a carry-on we were off and running quickly. Before long I was arriving at the AKL and getting through security.
Interesting aside… they gave my driver a parking pass for my use during the stay… 
This is the sight that greeted me as I entered the lobby:
The quality of my photos was going to be a little lacking since I had decided to just use my cell phone this trip. I am happy to see that they are not too bad after all!!
Sandy had put me on the reservation so I was able to check us in and check my bag with bell services. As I walked out the door to go to HS to meet some friends, I got a text that our room was ready, but it was too late then.
It took quite a while for a HS bus to come but eventually I was on my way and stopped along the way to take a few photos:
I met part of my group near this wretched ride:
And the rest joined out little group after they got off the ToT. We have all known each other for a number of years, having met on the DIS on the Creative DISign board and staying together, despite our lack of doing much designing lately! Many of us had met in person before, but for some, this was our first group meet.
We were going to Mama Melrose’s for lunch.
There were 14 of us in all. And we had a ball. There were old friends and new friends and lots of food and drink shared. Hi to Debbie and Richie, Bernadette and her friends and family, Elizabeth and her family, Stephanie and Terry.
And thanks to Elizabeth’s DH for taking a photo of many of us!
After lunch we discussed what we all had planned to do for the rest of the day. Some were planning to stay in the Studios for Osborne Lights and others had plans to go elsewhere. Elizabeth and her family were also at AKL so we decided to go back to the room for a little rest before coming back to HS for the Dancing Lights that night. I also had hopes of meeting up with some other DISers at AKL.
Sandy, Val and Hayley were also supposed to be arriving in time to go see the lights that night. But, during lunch I got a number of texts from both Sandy and Val letting me know that the weather had deteriorated in Baltimore and that their flight had been delayed. Throughout the afternoon and evening I would discover that it was delayed many times and they were stuck on the tarmac at BWI for over 2 hours waiting to be de-iced and given clearance to take off. This was not how we had hoped our 48 hour trip would begin!!
I was still holding out hope that they would arrive in time for a quick view of the lights that night.
Back to the Lodge I went and after checking into our room (pool view studio) I got a call from Kathy (John’s Mom on the DIS) that she and her daughter, Erin (I hope I remembered that correctly!) were going to be in the lobby getting ready for their dinner ADR at Boma. So I went back down to meet her finally. And we didn’t get a picture!! What were we thinking, Kathy?!?!? As I was talking to them, Elizabeth and her family came back down on their way to HS but I decided to see if Sandy and Val and Hayley might still make it. Unfortunately I got a text from Sandy that they were STILL on the tarmac and there was no way they would get to MCO in time to make the lights. We changed our plans right then and I got ready to go see the lights.
Although I knew many of my DIS friends were at HS that night, I never saw anyone I knew! But I did get to see the lights for as long as I wanted.
I returned to the Lodge and got a text from Sandy that they had finally arrived at MCO and were in the towncar on their way to WDW! When they finally arrived (five hours late!) we decided to go to DTD for a late dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. We got a bus very quickly and soon were ordering lots of yummy foods which included butternut squash soup, mac & cheese, Asian salads and more. Then it was time for Hayley to have some ice cream so we went to Ghiardelli and then shopped around in the stores a bit. On the way back to the buses hot chocolate seemed appropriate, so back to Ghiardelli we went.
It had been a very long day for all four of us so it wasn’t long before we were all fast asleep, with an alarm set for 7:00 since we had another BIG day planned for Sunday.
I'll just blame it on Erin. She should have thought of it. 
) so she left us to do that while we gazed in amazement once again. 
